Delhi Police inspector suspended for lapses in kidney scam

New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) A Delhi Police inspector was suspended Saturday for not taking note of kidney scam kingpin Amit Kumar being let off by seven policemen after taking bribes, while a city court directed the city police force to confront a policeman arrested Thursday with the key scam accused. “We have suspended Inspector Rameshwar Khatri, posted with the special staff unit of the central district, on administrative grounds. An inquiry has been ordered against him,” Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said.

The Crime Branch questioned Khatri and retired assistant commissioner of police Jai Chand for hours for their alleged involvement in the case, police sources told IANS.

Delhi Police had registered a case against him and head constables Devender Singh and Vijay Bahadur, and constables Naresh Kumar, Kaleem Beg, Surender Rathi and Rakesh Kumar for extorting money from the kidney scam accused, who was nabbed earlier this month in Nepal.

The police said raids were on to nab the absconding policemen.

The kidney racket was unearthed Jan 24, after police teams of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana police jointly swooped down on a private hospital and a guesthouse owned by Amit Kumar in Gurgaon, an IOT and industrial hub on the outskirts of Delhi.

Amit Kumar was arrested Feb 7 from a resort hotel near the India-Nepal border and deported to India last week. He is currently in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The multi-million-rupee racket of illegal kidney transplants served clients from Britain, the US, Greece, Lebanon, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries.